Morgan Stanley Upgrades General Motors (NYSE:GM) to Equal Weight

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) was upgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $54.00 price objective on the auto manufacturer’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $46.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 3.79% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on GM. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of General Motors from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. DZ Bank lowered General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of General Motors from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on General Motors from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on General Motors from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.85.

General Motors Price Performance

NYSE:GM opened at $52.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $52.57 and a 200-day moving average of $48.53. General Motors has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $61.24. The company has a market capitalization of $57.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.49, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.42.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.47. General Motors had a return on equity of 16.30% and a net margin of 6.06%. The company had revenue of $48.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 10.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at General Motors

In other General Motors news, EVP Rory Harvey sold 9,307 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.01, for a total value of $502,671.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $459,787.13. The trade was a 52.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Craig B. Glidden sold 383,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.63, for a total value of $21,697,331.46. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 122,465 shares in the company, valued at $6,935,192.95. The trade was a 75.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,030,475 shares of company stock valued at $56,509,286 over the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Motors

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in General Motors in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Motors during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in General Motors in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC bought a new position in General Motors during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Motors in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

About General Motors

General Motors Company designs, builds, and sells trucks, crossovers, cars, and automobile parts; and provide software-enabled services and subscriptions worldwide. The company operates through GM North America, GM International, Cruise, and GM Financial segments. It markets its vehicles primarily under the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Baojun, and Wuling brand names.